You Have A Match

Emma Lord perfectly captures what it’s like to be a teenager. Their voices, how they communicate, how they act and think, all the messy parts and the good parts. You Have A Match was a heartwarming (and rather surprising!) coming of age story about Abby Day. Abby is struggling in school, stressing over the BEI (big embarrassing incident) that happened between her and her best friend who she has feelings for, grieving her late grandpa, and barely navigating this new surprise that has entered her life. Abby has a full blown sister she’s never met.

I think this story was handled with humor and compassion. Not only were Abby and her friends and family allowed to experience the wide range of human emotion, they were allowed to be messy and get things wrong. So often books have these perfect, untouchable characters but here, everyone was human. I really felt like these were real people. Not only that, the setting was fun, dynamic, and creative. I haven’t read a camp story in I don’t know how many years, and this just transported me back to the times I was at camp.

The messages this book has can touch readers of all ages. Speak up for yourself, express your feelings, follow your dreams, love wildly, and cherish your friends and family. These are lessons that everyone should learn and I’m glad that it is happening for teenagers, people who need this message more than anyone. I really hope you’ll pick this book up, if for nothing else than the fun time that it is to read this.